Suing 70 year olds for downloading porn?

[DamianJ]

This is how the start of the end of the 'porn blackmail scam' began in England. Obviously innocent people were sent extortion letters and went to the press.

"These settlements range from $3,000-12,000. While the goal of curbing Internet piracy is understandable, this particular case sounds less like lawyers coming up with effective ways to protect copyrighted material and more like lawyers terrifying people into giving them $3,000."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_900484.html

Seems to be getting a great deal of press.

[seeandsee]

That horny granny should pay even more :D :D :D
lol lol lol

[mopek1]

Careful ... you may be labeled as someone who loves piracy.

[halfpint]

exactly ..it went to shit over here in the UK after a few of these cases hit the news

[L-Pink]

Sounds good to me!

.

[halfpint]

Sounds good to me!

.

It was until the law firms got themselves into all sorts of crap over it lol

[czarina]

I see both the good and the bad part of these lawsuits. Good is that they scare people away from free porn. Bad is that people get so scared that they stay away from porn for good, probably for months

[Cherry7]

How old is Paul Markham ?

[halfpint]

How old is Paul Markham ?

[DamianJ]

I see both the good and the bad part of these lawsuits. Good is that they scare people away from free porn. Bad is that people get so scared that they stay away from porn for good, probably for months

Have you got some figures showing a decrease in free porn after these extortion letters started being sent out?

[DamianJ]

Careful ... you may be labeled as someone who loves piracy.

Yes, obviously thinking that sending extortion letters to 70 year olds is a bad thing is exactly the same as thinking piracy is a good thing.

Exactly the same.

One is a group of cunts trying to blackmail IP addresses, the other is people downloading copyrighted material. It's almost identical. I see your confusion.

But yes, as stated, as soon as the press started these sort of 'hang on a minute, this is extortion' style pieces it was only a matter of months before the cunt lawyers who invented this scam in the UK went down.

Hopefully the US will follow close behind.

[L-Pink]

What does being 70 have to do with it?

[Roald]

they should sue 70 year olds for preaching on a bbs...

[Marie]

This was a pretty good way to make money off piracy. If these lawyers would have kept the amounts reasonable and low, no one would have gone to the press (or web forums, for that matter) but they managed to kill it quickly. How surprising.

[Barry-xlovecam]

A PR nightmare ...

[blackmonsters]

What does being 70 have to do with it?

It's a superfluous fact meant to stir empathy in the reader because the orignal
point is so unmoving that it's bullshit.

[DamianJ]

What does being 70 have to do with it?

Good question. What it has to do with it, is that it highlights the cuntiness of the scam. No one would care about a male primary school teacher getting a letter accusing him of downloading porn, but it's good PR when it's a little old lady.

In the UK there was exactly the same thing where a old lady was accused of downloading hardcore gay nazi porn. The papers were all over it, rightly so.

It illustrates there is no evidence of a crime, just a bunch of ambulance chasing scum trying to scam people out of money through fear.

The louder this gets shouted, the more chance of the scam getting shut down. As it now has been in the UK.

[GregE]

This was a pretty good way to make money off piracy. If these lawyers would have kept the amounts reasonable and low, no one would have gone to the press (or web forums, for that matter) but they managed to kill it quickly. How surprising.

Asking a lawyer to keep a dollar amount reasonable and low is like asking a bear to shit on a toilet.

Your point is well taken though.

[Caligari]

In the UK there was exactly the same thing where a old lady was accused of downloading hardcore gay nazi porn.

right. as if there isn't a septuagenarian gay nazi porn fan club

open your eyes man, old people are kinky fuckers.

[halfpint]

The louder this gets shouted, the more chance of the scam getting shut down. As it now has been in the UK.

I cant remember who it was on GFY posting about this a while back. It was one of the program owners I think saying that they were doing this and I said it would end up backfiring as it did over here in the UK. They seemed to think that it wouldent go the same way for some reason

[DamianJ]

I cant remember who it was on GFY posting about this a while back. It was one of the program owners I think saying that they were doing this and I said it would end up backfiring as it did over here in the UK. They seemed to think that it wouldent go the same way for some reason

Of course. Lightspeed, Hustler etc all think it won't go the same way. ACS law ran this scam for years and years. Started with video game piracy, then the bad PR made all their clients drop them. Look up Virgin Interactive and a game Pinball Dreams. Then movie studios, who also dropped them cos of bad PR. They had no one left, so tried porn. Lasted a while, they made a bomb, but now are fucked.

In America judges are already throwing cases out. A massive bunch of Hustler ones all got thrown out of court. Judges are ruling IP addresses /= a person and the writing is on the wall, imho.

So any cunts still trying to blackmail people better do it quickly! It's that pesky "innocent until PROVEN guilty' thing.

[Rochard]

If they are just sending out random letters to people, they should be shut down as a law firm instantly. You cannot just send out letters threatening legal action when you have no proof. At the very least you need to track this back to to them via IP address or something.

[DamianJ]

If they are just sending out random letters to people, they should be shut down as a law firm instantly. You cannot just send out letters threatening legal action when you have no proof. At the very least you need to track this back to to them via IP address or something.

What do you think an "IP address or something" *PROVES* Richard?

Why do you think a single case hasn't gone to court? Oh yes, because they have no proof and the court would laugh them out. The plan isn't to go to court, the plan is to extort as much money as possible.

[_Richard_]

funny who thinks this was a good idea

[JamesGw]

An IP address isn't a person, which makes going after these sorts of things very difficult if not outright impossible.

[Agent 488]

the more senior citizens we sue the faster we can roll back ten years of technological development and start getting ratios like 1999 again.

[96ukssob]

that is fucked up

[gideongallery]

Good question. What it has to do with it, is that it highlights the cuntiness of the scam. No one would care about a male primary school teacher getting a letter accusing him of downloading porn, but it's good PR when it's a little old lady.

In the UK there was exactly the same thing where a old lady was accused of downloading hardcore gay nazi porn. The papers were all over it, rightly so.

It illustrates there is no evidence of a crime, just a bunch of ambulance chasing scum trying to scam people out of money through fear.

The louder this gets shouted, the more chance of the scam getting shut down. As it now has been in the UK.

i think the big case that tipped it over the edge was the guy who was accused of downloading content AFTER he died

it was insane because the lawyers tried to argue it was still legit because the estate was responsible for the actions of the ghost.